First Kiss
by Leigh A. Sumpter
Summary: What goes through Ron and Hermione's minds as they each experience their first kiss with the wrong person? Takes place 4th and 6th year.


**Author Note:** This was just a quick little one-shot that came to mind a little earlier today. I hope you like it. Review to let me know what you think!

* * *

**First Kiss**

She knows it's bound to happen soon.

Viktor's been leading up to it for weeks, holding her hand as they take walks outside the castle, calling her sweet pet names, bringing her flowers and asking her to the Yule Ball. Clearly, unlike some boys she knows, he recognizes she is a _girl_ and therefore he treats her as such.

She's waited for this ever since she was little, when she would read fairy tales before bedtime and wish for her own happily ever after. She wants it to be perfect – in the right place and the right time, with the right boy. She wants it to be special, something she will cherish for the rest of her life.

But when that moment finally happens, after the Yule Ball has ended, Hermione Granger can't help but realize that the situation is completely wrong. As Viktor's lips meet hers, all Hermione can think about is her row with Ron.

_Why couldn't he have just _asked_ me?_ she wonders, barely responsive to Viktor. She knows that Viktor is perfectly valiant – a handsome, charismatic boy whose company she has enjoyed thus far. She knows that most other girls would kill to be in her shoes, kissing the Bulgarian Quidditch star outside the Gryffindor Common Room.

But she also knows that he's not the Prince Charming she's always dreamed of. Her Prince Charming is tall and gangly, with red hair that needs a trim and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. He's stubborn and sarcastic and perfectly blunt and funny and loyal and _wonderful_. She's known this for years and yet her pride won't let her back out now. She can't take back what she's just done or tell Ron how she feels about him. What's done is done. How could he have expected her to wait for him?

Nevertheless, as she breaks away from her first kiss, Hermione realizes that it will never truly belong to Viktor Krum.

* * *

He's sixteen years old and he knows that it's about time.

After all, his _little sister_ has already beaten him to it! And his brothers, of course, and all of his friends.

_Even Hermione_.

Ron Weasley loves his best friend with every fiber of his being, but it kills him to know that he isn't her first kiss. While he's been sitting around, waiting to see who would make the first move, she's been off with Viktor Krum, possibly falling madly in love with that stupid accent of his. _The accent is probably fake, anyway, _Ron reasons.

He loves Hermione, but he can't bring himself to tell her. Not now… not when she's this far ahead of him. How many times did she kiss him, anyway? How long did it last? How far did it go?

Ron figures that before he and Hermione can be together, he needs to catch up with her. He is, after all, sixteen years old – doesn't he deserve a good snog after a Quidditch game? And he's the only Gryffindor boy in his year who hasn't kissed anyone already; even Neville claims to have kissed Hannah Abbott in Hufflepuff.

So before he realizes what he's doing, he approaches Lavender Brown and kisses her on the mouth. It's a bold move, but Lavender (who happens to be the most flirtatious girl he knows) seems to eagerly return the affections. They've shared a few playful banters in the past, but Ron knows deep down that he has no real connection to Lavender. She's nothing to him – merely a practice run before he experiences the real thing with the right girl, or perhaps a distraction from his own loneliness, or maybe even a prop to make Hermione jealous.

Ron knows that Lavender is not his soulmate. His soulmate is a slender, frizzy-haired know-it-all with a firm grasp of "the rules" and an ironic knack for breaking them. She's stubborn and emotional and passionate and funny and loyal and _lovely_, both inside and out. He's known this since they were eleven, and yet he can't possibly tell her how beautiful he thinks she is when she smiles. He can't take back what he's done or tell Hermione how he feels about her. What's done is done. He has to catch up with her before he can make a move.

Ron knows Hermione will never be his first kiss. But he also knows, deep down, that she will be his last.


End file.
